


every road takes us farther from home

by river_soul



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-08-27
Updated: 2012-08-27
Packaged: 2017-11-13 00:04:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 1
Words: 691
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/497162
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/river_soul/pseuds/river_soul
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Stiles see’s it sometimes, in the unguarded moments when Lydia thinks no one is watching her.  It’s a brief, fragile thing between heartbeats where shades of Peter Hale still live inside her.</p>
            </blockquote>





	every road takes us farther from home

Stiles see’s it sometimes, in the unguarded moments when Lydia thinks no one is watching her. It’s a brief, fragile thing between heartbeats where shades of Peter Hale still live inside her. She never talks to Stiles about it, never even mentions Peter’s name to any of them.

There are other things too, small, unfamiliar mannerisms that surface over the coming months. No one says anything about the changes they see in her, these left over memories that are not her own. Her smiles are carefully crafted now, brittle and thin where they were once brilliant. He thinks she looks tired, dark circles under her eyes that not even concealer can hide. He wants to ask what’s wrong, if she’s ok but he knows if he did she’d likely gut him because Lydia Martin would never admit to being weak.

Stiles thinks it’d almost be worth the risk to see the fire in her eyes again but when she turns her gaze to him, the challenge in her eyes clear, he looks away instead (he’s afraid of what he wont see).

Whispers follow her at school but Lydia keeps her head held high, her smile steady. She doesn’t falter and Stiles is thankful to find she hasn’t completely faded away but the subtle shift inside her that colors all her words and smiles now is hard to miss. She’s sharper now, focused and intense without the trappings of her former life.

Scott and Allison predictable don’t notice much outside of the longing glances they throw each other. Jackson might have been the right one to push and needle his way in but Derek took the pack and left the night after Jackson shed his Kanima skin.

Stiles knows her parents are never home and even if they were he’s not entirely sure they’d really notice. He thinks of his own father then, of the love that stretches between them, resilient and infinite, and his chest feels tight thinking of Lydia alone in that house. He tries to talk to Scott about it but the grief he sees there for Allison and the pack he let go stops him. Instead he goes to her house alone, jittery and nervous but determined.

He’s unprepared to find Peter Hale at her door.

“Stiles, “ Peter greets, a ghost of a smile on his lips. “How nice of you to drop by,” he says, all false courtesy. Behind him Stiles can see Lydia, hovering uncertainly in the foyer. He thinks she looks fearful, eyes wide and unsure.

“Lydia, wont you come say hello to our guest?” Peter asks, the curl of his fingers beckoning her forward. 

She moves toward them, a little unsurely, her bare feet whispering against the tiled floor. She looks impossible fragile and small, dwarfed by the large hand Peter curls around the swell of her hip. The urge to reach for her is overwhelming but Stiles sees the way her features smooth when Peter touches her. She breathes out a soft sigh, relaxing against his side.

Stiles realizes then that it’s not Peter she’s afraid of but him. She worries what he might say to Scott or someone else.

“Lydia,” he says, brow flinty with concern and fear, surprised when she touches his hand. He starts at the contact, eyes jumping between her face and where her delicate fingers curl around his wrist.

“Please Stiles, don’t tell anyone,” she says and there’s something so earnest and desperate in the open expression on her face that it confuses him.

When he steps back Peter moves forward, his expression dark and tight. Stiles has been around Derek long enough to sense when the wolf is just below the surface and fear laces through his chest, tight and hot. The possibly of violence hangs heavily between them and it’s only Lydia’s soft, _Peter no_ , that stops the older man at the threshold.

“I think we understand each other, don’t we Stiles?” Peter asks with a smile.

The flash of red in his eyes is so brief that Stiles almost misses it.

“Perfectly,” he lies, his stomach turning at the sight of relief in Lydia’s eyes.


End file.
